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Avs still have work to do

Parise, Minnesota hold off Colorado to force Game 7

By Adrian Dater

The Denver Post

Posted:
04/28/2014 11:25:51 PM MDT

Updated:
04/28/2014 11:26:48 PM MDT

A shot by the Wild's Mikael Granlund (11) gets past Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov as the Avalanche's Andre Benoit (61) watches the goal during the first period of Game 6 in St. Paul, Minn., on Monday. The Wild won 5-2. (Ann Heisenfelt / Associated Press)

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The combined average salary cap hits of the three players that gave the Minnesota Wild the winning goal Monday night is more than $22 million. There is a reason Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and Mikko Koivu get the big bucks.

The Wild's big-money men saved its season from being eliminated, as Minnesota beat the Avalanche, 5-2, to force a Game 7 of their first-round playoff series Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center.

Parise tipped in Koivu's shot from the point with 6:29 left after an Avs' turnover. Battling with fellow Minnesota native Erik Johnson in front of Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov, Parise deflected Koivu's point shot home for a 3-2 Wild lead. Minnesota tacked on two empty-net goals in the final 90 seconds.

The Avs never led in any of the three games at Xcel Energy Center. They'll have to rely on home-ice advantage to continue their #WhyNotUs season beyond Wednesday night.

After a great second period, the Avs fell into a bad pattern in the third period of failing to get pucks out of their zone and/or hurried clearouts that at times resulted in icing violations. That let the Wild back into a game that seemed to be slipping away from them in the second after Colorado fought back from a 2-0 deficit to tie it.

It was another terrible start in this building for the Avs, with Minnesota storming out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Parise (a tip of a Suter shot) and Mikael Granlund goal through the 5-hole of Varlamov.

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The Avs then got a 5-on-3 power-play advantage for 1:07 in the first period when Paul Stastny and Andre Benoit were called for penalties, the latter coming when Benoit accidentally cleared a puck into the stands untouched. Just when it looked like an early-curtain night for the Avs, not only did they withstand the two-man disadvantage, they scored a short-handed goal.

Stastny got it at 16:59,when he came out of the penalty box and took Ryan O'Reilly's lead pass at center ice, then beat goalie Darcy Kuemper on a breakaway. O'Reilly got the puck when Suter misfired on a shot from the point and quickly fed it out to Stastny at the red line.

Buoyed by the goal, the Avs regrouped for the second and played their best period of the series. They outshot the Wild 14-6, and tied the game at 4:47 on the power play — yes, the power play. With only one power-play goal to that point in the series, the Avs got a second when Nick Holden sneaked down the left side and one-timed O'Reilly's crossing pass past Kuemper. Matt Duchene, playing his first game since suffering a medial collateral ligament injury to his left knee a month ago, got the second assist on the goal.

"It's a start I guess," Duchene said of his playoff debut this season. "You've got to learn to trust an injury like that coming back, and as the game went on I felt more confident with it. There's still a long way to go for me, but next game is Game 7 so you lay it all on the line."

Avs coach Patrick Roy started Duchene on the fourth line, but it wasn't long before he put him back on a line with O'Reilly. Suddenly, O'Reilly seemed like a different player, and the Avs buzzed around the Wild net a lot more with Duchene than they had for most of the series.

The Wild started to regroup in the third, though. Minnesota got stronger on the forecheck and began creating turnovers and spending more time in the Colorado zone.

The Avs went on the power play in the third period with 14:16 left after Clayton Stoner was called for interfering with Max Talbot, and the Avs nearly scored in the first 20 seconds. Jamie McGinn had the puck on his stick and some net to shoot at from the crease, but his shot just missed.

Roy, as usual, pulled Varlamov from the game early, this time with 2:44 left. This time it didn't work as Minnesota scored two empty-net goals.

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